Their alternative plan goes further than D66, CDA and JA21
Left-wing block wants all austerity measures against education off the table
A huge demonstration happened in The Hague on Monday. Photo: DUB
The new cabinet wants to cut around two billion euros from education, of which around one billion will be taken from universities and scientific research. “Unacceptable”, says the left-wing opposition led by the party GroenLinks-PvdA.
Together with parties SP, Denk, Volt and Partij voor de Dieren, they propose an alternative: taking those two billion away from the business community. For example, by abolishing subsidies and other tax benefits from the fossil fuel industry.
Redline
In a press release, the left-wing block pointed out that the cabinet does not have a majority in the Senate. If all opposition parties stick to their guns, they can stop the budget cuts in the Senate, says MP Luc Stultiens. “We hope that the entire opposition will draw a red line this week.”
But D66, CDA and JA21 came up with a slightly cheaper alternative: they propose to reverse "only" 1.3 billion. With these three parties, the cabinet can guide the budget for education, culture and science through the Senate. The Christian Union has also joined this camp, ANP reports.
The chance that the cabinet will choose left seems small. The alternative cover of GroenLinks-PvdA will probably be unacceptable to VVD. Stultiens has submitted an amendment stating that a tax advantage for real estate investors will disappear and that subsidies for the fossil fuel industry will be abolished. The opposition also wants to raise 800 million by limiting tax avoidance by companies.